1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a hypertext transmission method and to a hypertext transmission server apparatus, and more particularly to a method for sending and receiving data other than HTML (HyperText Markup Language) files using a user terminal equipped with only a WWW (World Wide Web) browser.
2. Description of the Related Art
In order to use various services, such as Web browsing and electronic mail (e-mail), in an Internet connection via a telephone network (including via mobile telephone), a user terminal requires a program for implementing information communications with respective servers providing the various services over the Internet and a program for providing the acquired information to the user. More specifically, a WWW browser supporting HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol) is required in addition to PPP and TCP/IP for the transfer of information with WWW servers, and an e-mail program supporting SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol), POP3, or the like is required for transfer of information with mail servers.
Thus, a user must install and activate a program for each service whenever a service is to be received over the Internet, resulting in problems of increased memory requirements and poor usability.
Some WWW browsers include functions for sending and receiving e-mail. However, these browsers basically have built-in e-mail programs so that the WWW browser and the e-mail software exist as one unit.
Techniques have been proposed, such as in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. Hei 9-34772, in which files transmitted from a WWW server according to request are compressed to adjust the amount of data, then transmitted to a client. However, these techniques are only for files that have been requested by a user, and do not include ideas for processing other data not directly requested by the user, such as processing e-mail data together with HTML files.